With Malice Aforethought

Mountain Lake Ambush

Characters Ready to Roll

No introductory story for our first session with the party – Arglebrath, Ashlour, Big Al, Hestus and Hwell. For this encounter, they were joined by Ashlour’s twin brother Dain. The players were told that they all already know each other and so a brief description of all characters was given.

The Setup

The players discovered that they were currently in the mountains, preparing to ambush a group of between 5 and 10 enemies, whose destination was known, but whose path was not. The location was an uneven plateau on the side of a mountain range, bordered by a cliff on one side. There was forest cover skirting a cold mountain lake that ultimately poured over the side of the cliff in a dramatic waterfall. The party knew that their targets would be headed toward the cliff, where a relatively narrow ledge led along the side of the cliff to their enemies’ destination.

Positions

After discussion, it was decided that Big Al, Hestus and Hwell would remain on the edge of the forest cover, while Arglebrath would take cover behind a large glacial boulder on the edge of the lake and Ashlour would take up a prone position on the top of another.

Action

When their quarry arrived, it seemed they were intending to skirt the lake on a narrow stretch of ground running between the lake and the largest boulder. Hwell, noticed a black robed figure following behind 3 skeletons and suggested targeting this individual. Dain volunteered to fire the first shot and promptly killed the robed figure with a sheaf arrow fired from his longbow.

This being the signal, the party then engaged with their foes. Ashlour cast a shield spell, Hestus attempted to turn the skeletons (failed), Arglebrath rounded the boulder to take on one of the 4 remaining humans but did not connect with his attack. Hwell joined Arglebrath in combat against the enemy, while Big Al took out a human with a single shot from his sling.

Combat having been joined, the battle ebbed and flowed with the party ultimately victorious, though not without casualties, Ashlour and Hestus both taking blows rendering them unconscious (though in Hestus’ case, it was self-inflicted).

All in all, a successful and (hopefully) enjoyable introductory session. Cut-scene fade to black in readiness for the next one…